Installation and Operation Manual
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Manual update: 07/23/2013
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Telco Sentinel
Bi-directional USB DTMF/ASCII transceiver with built-in hybrid
INC
®
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
Table of Contents
Section Title Page #
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Who to Contact for Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Features/Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Surge Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LED indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
USB Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Telephone Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Caller/Send Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
USB Serial Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Information Retrieval Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Caller ID Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Warranty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Product label. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix
Connector, DIP-switch, and LED layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix
Fractional schematic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix
WEBSITE:
Visit our web site for
product updates and
additional information.
2
CONTENTS
3
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for your purchase of a BROADCAST TOOLS® TELCO SEN-
TINEL, bi-directional USB DTMF/ASCII transceiver with built-in hybrid (referred
to as the TELCO SENTINEL throughout this manual). We’re confident that this
product will give you many years of dependable service. This manual is intended
to give you all the information needed to install and operate the BROADCAST
TOOLS® TELCO SENTINEL.
SAFETY INFORMATION
Only qualified technical personnel should install the TELCO SENTINEL.
Any attempt to install this device by a person who is not technically qualified could
result in a hazardous condition to the installer or other personnel or damage to the
TELCO SENTINEL or other equipment. Please ensure that proper safety precau-
tions have been taken before installing this device. If you are unfamiliar with this
type of equipment, please contact a properly qualified engineer to handle the instal-
lation and setup of the TELCO SENTINEL. Broadcast Tools, Inc., is unable to sup-
port NON-Broadcast Tools software, hardware or NON-Broadcast Tools comput-
er/hardware/software problems. If you experience these problems, please research
your hardware/software instruction manuals or contact the manufacturers technical
support department.
WHO TO CONTACT FOR HELP
If you have any questions regarding your product or you need assistance,
please contact your distributor from whom you purchased this equipment.
If you would like more information about Broadcast Tools® products, you
may reach us at:
Broadcast Tools, Inc.
131 State Street
Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284-1503 USA
Voice: 360.854.9559
Fax: 866.783.1742
Internet Home Page: www.broadcasttools.com
E-mail:[email protected]
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING
BROADCAST TOOLS® BRAND PRODUCTS!
Broadcast Tools is a Veteran Owned Business
Designed, Assembled and Supported in WA State, USA
4
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
OVERVIEW
Product Overview
The Telco Sentinel is a bi-directional DTMF/ASCII transceiver. It converts DTMF
tones to ASCII and ASCII to DTMF tones when connected to a telephone line and
provides incoming caller ID data. The unit is also equipped with an electronic hybrid
providing send and caller audio on 3.5mm jacks, along with removable screw ter-
minals. The Telco Sentinel interfaces with the PC via a USB Com port. Tones are
transmitted at a selectable speed of 50ms, 100ms or 500ms tone/space. A post-trans-
mit delay of 0.0 to 9.9 seconds can be added that will cause a delayed transmission
of tones after the string is received on the USB port. The DTMF transmit buffer is
256 characters long. The Telco Sentinel can be configured to automatically answer
after between 1 and 9 rings, or auto-answer may be disabled. Front panel send and
caller telephone line audio trimmers are supplied, along with front panel LED’s dis-
play; power, ring, hook and tone. The Telco Sentinel is USB bus powered.
Features/Benefits
• Bi-directional DTMF/ASCII transceiver
• Decodes caller ID data.
• Built-in electronic hybrid for caller/send audio.
• USB COM port interface for connection to PC.
• LED indicators for power, ring, hook, and tone detection.
• Fully RFI proofed.
• USB bus powered.
• Up to four Telco Sentinels may be rack mounted on one RA-1, 1-RU rack shelf.
WEBSITE:
Visit our web site for
product updates and
additional information.
5
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
INSPECTION
Inspection
Please examine your TELCO SENTINEL carefully for any damage that may have been sus-
tained during shipping. If any damage is present, please notify the shipper immediately and
retain the packaging for inspection by the shipper. The package should contain the TELCO
SENTINEL, a USB type A/B cable and a RJ11 phone cable. Manuals may be downloaded
from our web site.
Installation
Surge Protection
The TELCO SENTINEL has built-in resistance to voltage changes; we recommend that you
use a power surge protector or line conditioner on the incoming lines. Lightning strikes
and/or other high voltage surges may damage your TELCO SENTINEL and connected
equipment if it is not properly protected. For lightning protection devices, check out
www.polyphaser.com and www.itwlinx.com.
LED indicators
• “PWR” LED: Indicates that the Telco Sentinel is powered up (green.)
• “HOOK” LED: Lit when line is seized (off hook) (yellow.)
• “RING” LED: Lit when ringing is detected on line (red.)
• “TONE” LED: Indicates valid DTMF tone decode (red.)
USB Port
This type B USB port powers the Telco Sentinel and is used to interface the Telco Sentinel
to the computer via a virtual COM port. See the “USB Serial Setup” section of this manual
for more information.
Telephone (Telco) Jack
RJ11 jack for connection to a phone line.
Caller/Send Audio
The Telco Sentinel’s built-in electronic hybrid allows for audio to be recorded/monitored
from the phone line (caller audio) as well as for audio to be sent to the phone line (send
audio) by external audio interfaces.
Caller Level/Send Level
The front panel “Caller Level and “Send Level” adjustment trimmers may be used to adjust
the caller output audio and send input audio levels to the desired loudness.
Unbalanced Caller/Send Audio (3.5mm jacks)
Unbalanced audio connections can be made via the Caller and Send 3.5mm TRS jack con-
nections. The TRS jacks are configured for dual mono output/input which means that mono
audio is carried on the tip well as the ring and ground is provided on the sleeve of each con-
nection.
Balanced Caller/Send Audio (Terminal Block)
Balanced audio connections can be made via the 5-position pluggable euro-style terminal
block labeled “Audio.” See below for a connector pin-out.
SEND SEND GND CALLER CALLER
–+ –+
NOTE: All connections and indicators are noted on the top cover label.
6
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
INSTALLATION
Jumper Settings
JP3: DTMF Tone detection jumper (Guard time)
The Telco Sentinel is equipped with a 4-position jumper, labeled “JP3” on its PCB. This is
used to adjust how quickly DTMF tones are detected. The settings are as follows:
F = Fast, 50ms ON / 50ms OFF
M = Medium, 100ms ON / 100ms OFF
S = Slow, 150ms ON / 150ms OFF.
To detect multi-tone bursts, the jumper should be left in the default position F = Fast.
USB Serial Operation
To control the Telco Sentinel, you must connect it to the USB port of a PC running a serial
terminal program such as HyperTerminal, or PuTTY. When you first plug the Telco Sentinel
into your PC it should automatically install the correct FTDI USB Serial “Virtual COM port”
drivers which will allow you to access the Telco Sentinel on a COM port. Set the terminal
program to 9600,8,N,1, flow control to NONE. Character Echo should also be turned ON.
NOTE: If the Telco Sentinel’s FTDI USB Serial “Virtual COM port” drivers do not auto-
matically install they may be downloaded here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
Information Retrieval/Setup Commands
The (@) ampersat/at sign symbol is the beginning of string followed by the command/para-
meters. No carriage return or line feed is required. Commands are NOT case sensitive.
@Pnn – Sets the wait time between the receipt of an ASCII string and the generation of
DTMF tones. When <nn> is the number of 100ms units that it will wait after receiving an
ASCII string before sending DTMF. This is actually nn+100ms as there is an initial 100ms
wait when receiving ASCII before any processing is done. This number can be 00-99.
Command example: @P01 will set the DTMF generation delay to 200ms
Response example: P=01<cr><lf>
@P? – Returns the current stored DTMF generation delay value: P=<nn>
Response example: P=01<cr><lf>
@Rn – Sets the number of rings before auto-answer. Where <n> is a number 0-9, 1-9 is the
number of rings and 0 will disable auto-answer.
Command example: @R1 will set auto-answer to one ring.
Response example: R=1<cr><lf>
@R? – Returns the current ring value.
Response example: R=1<cr><lf>
@Sn – Sets the tone duration and tone spacing for generated DTMF tones.
Three spacing settings (<n>) are available 1, 2, or 3:
1=50ms tones with 50ms spacing.
2=100ms tones with 100ms spacing.
3=500ms tones with 500ms spacing.
Command example: @S1 will set tone duration and spacing to 50ms.
Response example: S=1<cr><lf>
@S? – Return the current tone duration and tone spacing value.
Response example: S=1<cr><lf>
@U – Return unit model and firmware version :<product name> <version><cr><lf>
Response Example: BTI TELCO SENTINEL v1.06<cr><lf>
WEBSITE:
Visit our web site for
product updates and
additional information.
7
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
INSTALLATION
Control Commands
@T – Takes phone line off-hook with loop current check. Will return @T when off
hook and @H when the hang-up occurs.
Response example (off-hook): @T
Response example (hang-up): @H
@H – Will hang-up the phone line and return a @H.
Response example: @H
@I – Takes phone line off-hook without loop current check. It will return a @I on
the serial port when off-hook. This is useful for interfacing dry lines or for non-
phone applications.
Response example: @I
Caller ID data
The Telco Sentinel will output raw caller ID data to the USB Com port when it is
present with an incoming call. All caller ID data is prefaced with the string: @CID
followed by the raw Caller ID data.
NOTE: At least two rings must occur before pick-up for caller ID data to be trans-
mitted and received.
Operation
When the appropriate number of rings are detected by the Telco Sentinel it
will go off-hook and return @T.
To generate DTMF tones from a character string simply send the data string
to the Telco Sentinel’s USB Com port at 9600,8,N,1,None. Up to 256 characters can
be accepted in one string. 50ms after the last character of the string is received the
Telco Sentinel will begin generating DTMF tones from the ASCII string. No car-
riage return is needed to terminate DTMF tone generation commands, only the
above mentioned 50ms pause.
For example to have a DTMF tone burst of 12345 sent, you would send the
ASCII characters 12345 in one packet and 50ms after the 5 is received it will begin
generating the DTMF tone burst.
The comma “,” can be used to generate a one second pause within a tone burst and
the semi-colon “;” can be used to generate a 100ms pause within a tone burst.
For example the ASCII string: 9,,15416872118 will dial 9, wait 2 seconds then dial
541 687 2118.
Any DTMF tones received on the phone line will automatically be decoded and
immediately output over the USB Com port.
8
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECIFICATIONS
Audio Inputs (Send): Unbalanced 3.5mm jack, left and right mono. 11kΩ impedance.
Balanced mono terminal block input. 22kΩ impedance.
Audio Outputs (Caller): Unbalanced 3.5mm jack, left and right mono. 47Ω impedance
Balanced mono terminal block output. 100Ω impedance.
USB Serial Port USB Type B jack. FTDI Virtual Com Port chipset, 9600 baud, 8
data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. Handshaking disabled.
Logic Flash Microprocessor w/non-volatile memory
Power USB bus powered.
Power Indicator Green LED
Mechanical 6.10” x 3.75” x 1.60” (DWH)
Weight 1.5 pounds
Options RA-1, 1-RU rack shelf. Up to four units may be accommodated.
WEBSITE:
Visit our web site for
product updates and
additional information.
9
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
LIMITED WARRANTY
LIMITED WARRANTY
The term “Buyer” as used in this document refers to and includes both (but only) (a) any person or entity who acquires such an item for
the purpose of resale to others (i.e., a dealer or distributor of an item), and (b) the first person or entity who acquires such an item for
such person’s or entity’s own use.
Broadcast Tools warrants to each Buyer of any item manufactured by Broadcast Tools that the item will be free from defects in materi-
als and workmanship at the time it is shipped by Broadcast Tools if the item is properly installed, used and maintained.
EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES
If Broadcast Tools is notified, in writing, of a failure of any item manufactured by Broadcast Tools to conform to the foregoing Limited
Warranty within one (1) year following the date of the Buyer’s acquisition of the item, and if the item is returned to Broadcast Tools in
accordance with Broadcast Tools’ instructions for confirmation by inspection of the defect (which at Broadcast Tools’ election may
include, without limitation, a requirement that the Buyer first obtain a Return Authorization number from Broadcast Tools, that the Buyer
furnish proof of purchase in the form of an invoice and/or receipt, and that the Buyer prepay all freight charges associated with any return
of the item to Broadcast Tools using such freight service as Broadcast Tools reasonably may specify), Broadcast Tools will repair or
replace the defective item, or will refund the purchase price paid by the Buyer for the item. Broadcast Tools shall have the exclusive
right to choose between these alternative remedies.
NO OTHER WARRANTIES OR REMEDIES
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, BROADCAST TOOLS AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL OTHER
WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABIL-
ITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE; AND THE FOREGOING ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES SHALL BE EXCLUSIVE OF
ALL OTHER REMEDIES. THIS LIMITED WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS,
WHICH VARY FROM STATE/JURISDICTION TO STATE/JURISDICTION.
NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, NEITHER BROADCAST TOOLS NOR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS
SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHATSO-
EVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA OR
INFORMATION, COST OF CAPITAL, CLAIMS OF CUSTOMERS, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE
OF OR THE INABILITY TO USE ANY ITEM SUPPLIED BY BROADCAST TOOLS, EVEN IF BROADCAST TOOLS HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL,
EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY APPLIES WHETHER A CLAIM IS ONE ALLEGING
BREACH OF A CONTRACT OR WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORT, FOR THE VIOLATION OF ANY STATUTORY DUTY,
THE FAILURE OF ANY LIMITED OR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY TO ACHIEVE ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE, OR ANY OTHER CLAIM OF
ANY NATURE. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, THIS LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Broadcast Tools, Inc.
131 State Street
Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 • USA
360.854.9559
voice • 866.783.1742 fax
suppor[email protected] e-mail
www.broadcasttools.com website
10
APPENDIX
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
11
APPENDIX
Telco Sentinel Installation and Operation Manual
12
APPENDIX
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